By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
January 8, 2013
RALEIGH — What would happen if the officials chosen to govern our state in turn chose to serve their fellow citizens instead of themselves and made every decision rooted in godly principles?
“Four years from now North Carolina will have thousands more jobs, thousands more children who are better educated, an economy that is booming and thriving, a state undivided, citizens filled with hope — a state that is a shining star, an example for all other states throughout our great nation,” prayed the Rev. David Chadwick, senior pastor of Charlotte’s Forest Hill Church, as he asked God‘s blessing at the Jan. 5 swearing in ceremony of new Tar Heel Governor Pat McCrory.
“From his lips to God’s ears,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, who called the prayer the centerpiece of the event and urged North Carolinians to focus on its meaning and “our need as Christian citizens to embrace its message.”
Early in the 15-minute ceremony held in the old House chambers of the historic Capitol, Dr. Chadwick gave an invocation in which he asked God to walk closely with the state’s 74th governor, the first Republican to hold the office in two decades, and “to continue to remind him of his calling to serve people for their needs to be met, not to use people for his own needs to be met.”
“Let him not worry about anything but in everything with great thanksgiving always lay his burden upon You in prayer,” he said.
“Allow his desires to be fully and solely met in you, the God in whom he trusts. As he seeks you daily, let him always do justice and love mercy for the citizens of this great state as he also walks humbly with his God.”
Asking that the Almighty protect the governor and first lady from ill will and discouragement, he prayed that their love would increase over the next four years and that they would not tolerate any temptation, “especially the one to see themselves as anything other than your chosen children endowed with a special position and calling to serve others.”
He asked that Ann McCrory would find God’s causes “especially among those who are most vulnerable and needy in North Carolina.”
“May her position, presence, privilege and power be used to shine lights in areas of hurt and need not otherwise noticed,” he implored. “May she encourage all of us to serve, not be served, and to give our lives away to those who may need us the most.”
Dr. Creech said the prayer was not only beautiful in its simplicity, but a Biblical and practical appeal to elected officials and their constituents to put service above self and to base daily decisions on God‘s truths.
He said Dr. Chadwick‘s request that God would consume the governor “with a heart to love You fully and to love all North Carolina citizens as he loves himself,” is the direct application of Jesus’ admonition: “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
“Dr. Chadwick spoke ‘enormous blessings’ over Pat and Ann McCrory, and laid out in his prayer the state’s path toward blessing as well, that of rooting ourselves in His principles and living lives of service for His glory. I tell you if the principles of so magnificent a prayer offered in Christ’s name were taken close to the heart by our governor, lawmakers, and citizens alike, it would catapult our state, I believe, into a golden age of unprecedented peace, happiness, and prosperity” Dr. Creech said.
Gov. McCrory scheduled his swearing-in early so that he would already be in office when the Legislature returned to session. A larger, public inauguration is set for this Saturday, Jan. 12.
